By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
Relations between South Korea and Japan descended into a familiar pattern Tuesday, when Seoul condemned Tokyo’s latest claim to islets known in Korean as Dokdo.
The barely inhabitable rocks that lie in waters between the two countries have been a longstanding point of difference – like other issues stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, including sexual slavery and forced labor.
Summoning a Japanese defense attache to issue its protest, the South’s defense ministry released a statement urging Tokyo to promptly correct the annual defense white paper that it had released earlier in the day.
The Cabinet-approved paper referred to Dokdo under the Japanese name Takeshima, while also describing the islets as “sovereign territory.”
Seoul’s call for Japan “not to repeat such unjust behavior” was a significant shift from President Park Geun-hye’s relatively warm overtures only last month.
Park has so far refused to hold a one-on-one summit with her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, but she sent a message via her foreign minister expressing her “sincere expectations” that 2015 might represent a fresh start.
Yet Tuesday marked the 11th year in a row for Tokyo’s white paper to lay claim to territory that Seoul effectively controls through a limited police and residential presence.
The islets also lie closest to South Korea, and have become a symbol of national pride – models and images of the rocks can be seen everywhere from subway stations to taxi dashboards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Seoul cooled suggestions of improving military ties with Tokyo – as a defense ministry spokesperson insisted that the two sides were not making any moves to sign a mooted intelligence sharing deal.
